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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.1 PCSR Zoning Ord Amend to Ch 8.76 STAFF REPORT 1 82 PLANNING COMMISSION DATE: October 28, 2014 TO: Planning Commission SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING: PLPA-2014-00051 Zoning Ordinance Amendment to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading) related to the Village Parkway Pilot Parking Program (Legislative) Report prepared by Kristi Bascom, Principal Planner EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Planning Commission will review City-initiated amendments to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading) of the Dublin Zoning Ordinance to extend the program to temporarily eliminate the parking standards in the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan Village Parkway District for an additional five (5) years. The existing program has been in effect since January 2013 and will expire in January 2015 unless renewed. The proposed amendments will also establish a parking standard for new commercial construction. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Planning Commission: 1) Receive Staff presentation; 2) Open the public hearing; 3) Take testimony from the public; 4) Close the public hearing and deliberate; and 5) Adopt a Resolution recommending that the City Council adopt an Ordinance approving a Zoning Ordinance Amendment to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading) related to the Village Parkway Pilot Parking Program. Submitted By ke ieWed By Principal Planner Assistant Community Development Director COPIES TO: File ITEM NO.: RL Page 1 of 6 G:IPA120141PLPA-2014-00051 Village Parkway Parking extensionlPC 10.28.141PCSR VPW Parking ZOA 10.28.14.docx DESCRIPTION: The overarching goal of the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan (DDSP) is "to create a vibrant, dynamic commercial and mixed-use center that provides a wide array of opportunities for shopping, services, dining, working, living, and entertainment in a pedestrian-friendly and aesthetically pleasing setting that attracts both local and regional residents." I The DDSP established three distinct districts, each including its own set of design standards tailored to the envisioned uses. The Transit-Oriented District embraces the recent opening of the West Dublin BART station and is the district where a vast majority of the new residential development in Downtown Dublin is envisioned to take place. The Retail District includes much of the existing retail core and aims to stimulate infill development and redevelopment of aging buildings and large parking areas. The Village Parkway District embraces the existing successful service and retail uses along a "Main Street" corridor, and this district has the most potential to reutilize and re-tenant existing buildings with more intense uses such as restaurants, service retail, and other local-serving businesses. The Village Parkway District is the subject of the Pilot Parking Program, and a map of the District is provided below: Figure 1: Village Parkway District T1>1 - r • s `A Ar A 4. ti 5 t Since the adoption of the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan in February 2011, City Staff have been working to implement the goals and policies of both the Specific Plan and the subsequent recommendations of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Technical Assistance Panel report. One of the recommendations from the ULI report was to incentivize more commercial businesses in the 2 of 6 downtown by having greater flexibility in regulatory standards such as the City's parking requirements. In 2012, Staff brought a recommendation to the Planning Commission and City Council to test a Pilot Parking Program in the Village Parkway District for a period of two years. The recommendation was supported by the Planning Commission and an ordinance implementing the pilot program was approved by the City Council and became effective on January 4, 2013 (Ordinance 19-12). The Pilot Parking Program allows parking supply and demand to be managed by the property owners and tenants, and not regulated by the City. It has become the responsibility of the property owners, property managers, and businesses to lease tenant spaces to the right combination of users to ensure that there is sufficient parking to serve the businesses and their customers. With this Ordinance in effect, the requirement that new or expanding businesses in the Village Parkway District need to provide a certain amount of on- site parking was waived. The goal of the pilot program was to enable a wider variety of businesses to be established in the Village Parkway District without the encumbrance of parking requirements. During the time that this pilot program has been in effect, a brewpub restaurant has signed a lease to open on Village Parkway and several other fitness/personal service uses have been established. The allowed uses in the Village Parkway District have continued to be regulated by the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan, but the typical parking requirements have not applied. The term of this pilot program was two years, and the program will expire in January 2015 unless extended by the City Council. Staff's recommendation is to extend the program an additional five years to allow more time to test this market-based approach to parking. ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENT Ordinance 19-12 (Attachment 1), approved in 2012, modified Section 8.76.080.D (Parking Requirements by Use Type — Commercial) to add the following language (the modified text is underlined): Commercial Use Types. Commercial Use Types shall provide off-street parking spaces as noted in the table below, with the exception of uses located on properties in the Village Parkway District of the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan. Uses in the Village Parkway District are not required to provide a prescribed number of parking spaces for any use that is permitted or conditionally permitted in the Downtown Dublin Zoning District. This modification is effective through January 4, 2015, after which it will revert back to the previous language, which requires all commercial uses in all areas to meet the parking required by their use. The proposed amendment is to extend the effective date of the modified language shown above for an additional five years, which will result in an expiration date of January 4, 2020. In addition to making the above language effective for five additional years, clarifying language will be added to provide a parking standard for new commercial construction in the Village Parkway District. The resulting language for Section 8.76.080.D will be as follows: Commercial Use Types. Commercial Use Types shall provide off-street parking spaces as noted in the table below, with the exception of uses proposing to occupy existing buildings in the Village Parkway District of the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan. Uses 3 of 6 occupying existing buildings in the Village Parkway District are not required to provide a prescribed number of parking spaces for any commercial use that is permitted or conditionally permitted in the Downtown Dublin Zoning District. New buildings that are proposed to be constructed in the Village Parkway District are required to provide parking spaces at the rate of 1 space per 300 square feet of gross building area, regardless of the future commercial use of the building. All on-site parking spaces within the Village Parkway District shall be considered "required parking" for the purposes of administering Chapter 8.76 unless otherwise determined by the Community Development Director. OTHER DOWNTOWN PARKING CONSIDERATIONS The City Council held a Study Session on the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan on July 29, 2014. One of the topics covered during the course of the meeting was the Village Parkway Pilot Parking Program, and the discussion covered the potential to extend the timeframe of the pilot program and possibly expand its reach to other districts in Downtown Dublin. Staff analyzed the need to adjust the commercial parking requirements in the Retail and Transit-Oriented Districts of the DDSP, and Staff's recommendation at this time is to extend the program in the Village Parkway District only. The Village Parkway District is unique in that due to the size and configuration of the parcels and the layout of the buildings, the area is unlikely to see a large amount of new development. In this District, the focus is primarily on reutilizing existing buildings for new and different uses. Easing the parking requirements is intended to help facilitate this transition. In contrast, development in the Transit-Oriented District will primarily be residential and mixed- use projects that will involve a wholesale reutilization of any site to a more intense use. Commercial parking requirements have, so far, not appeared to be a hindrance for development to occur. In the Retail District, many sites have an excess of parking, although several sites have other constraints including restrictive CC&Rs and/or lease agreements. Although Staff is not proposing any commercial parking standard modifications at this time, over the coming year Staff will reach out to property owners in the Retail District to discuss what parking challenges may exist (including the need for additional on-street parking and the need to consider alternative residential parking standards in the Retail District) and identify potential solutions. The proposed Resolution recommending that the City Council adopt an Ordinance approving a Zoning Ordinance Amendment to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading) related to the Village Parkway Pilot Parking Program is included as Attachment 2 to this Staff Report, with the accompanying City Council Ordinance as Exhibit A to Attachment 2. CONSISTENCY WITH THE GENERAL PLAN, SPECIFIC PLAN AND ZONING ORDINANCE: The proposed amendments to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) are consistent with the General Plan, Downtown Dublin Specific Plan, and the Zoning Ordinance in that the amendments are limited to relaxing the parking requirements for a temporary period of time for uses which are consistent with the General Plan, Downtown Dublin Specific Plan, and j Zoning Ordinance. The proposed amendments do not change any land use designations or zoning designations. i I i 4 of 6 NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: City Staff held a Community Meeting on Friday, October 3, 2014 and invited all property owners and tenants in the Village Parkway District. Staff also solicited feedback on the Pilot Program via email. Three property owners provided feedback on the Pilot Program and all comments were in support of continuing the program for an additional period of time. In accordance with State law, a public notice was published in the Valley Times and posted at several locations throughout the City. A notice of this hearing was mailed to those requesting such notice ten days before the hearing and the Staff Report and attachments were made available for public review prior to the public hearing in accordance with Government Code Sections 65090 and 65091. A public notice was also sent to all tenants and property owners in the entire Village Parkway District and all tenants and property owners within 300 feet of the affected properties. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), together with the State Guidelines and City Environmental Regulations require that certain projects be reviewed for environmental impacts and when applicable, environmental documents prepared. For this project, Staff recommends that the project be found exempt from CEQA in accordance with CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen with certainty that the amendments to Chapter 8.76 of the Dublin Municipal Code (Off-Street Parking and Loading) will not have a significant effect on the environment ATTACHMENTS: 1) City Council Ordinance 19-12. 2) Resolution recommending that the City Council adopt an Ordinance approving a Zoning Ordinance Amendment to Chapter 8.76 (Off- Street Parking and Loading) related to the Village Parkway Pilot Parking Program, with the City Council Ordinance included as it Exhibit A. 5 of 6 GENERAL INFORMATION: APPLICANT: City of Dublin PROPERTY OWNERS: Various LOCATION: All properties in the Village Parkway District of the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan ASSESSORS PARCEL NUMBERS: Various GENERAL PLAN LAND USE DESIGNATION: Downtown Dublin Specific Plan (Village Parkway District) SPECIFIC PLAN LAND USE DESIGNATION: n/a SURROUNDING USES: LOCATION ZONING GENERAL PLAN LAND USE CURRENT USE OF PROPERTY North DDZD Downtown Dublin Specific Plan Residential (Village Parkway District South DDZD Downtown Dublin Specific Plan Office, Retail (Village Parkway District East DDZD Downtown Dublin Specific Plan Residential Villa a Parkway District Interstate 680, West n/a n/a Flood Control Channel I i 6 of 6